The present invention generally relates to institutional telephone systems and more particularly to methods of affecting inmate conduct through providing discounted telephone rates based on certain criteria, such as inmate good behavior.
Most correctional facilities typically provide some type of telephone system that inmates can access to place calls to people outside of the correctional facility, such as friends and family. Regular contact with family is one of the key elements that can impact inmate conduct during incarceration and decrease the rate of recidivism. Most of these telephone systems allow inmates to place calls via conventional collect calling methods or debit-based calling methods that utilize pre-paid calling cards. The telephone rates for these types of calls are typically higher than normal public call rates.
There currently exists a growing awareness and dissatisfaction with the calling rates associated with telephone calls placed or received by inmates within correctional facilities. Most of the time, these calls are paid for by the family and/or friends of the inmate. Family members face a certain lack of control over the total amount of charges that an inmate can generate through standard collect calling methods when an inmate calls home due to the difficulty in refusing a collect telephone call from a loved one. Furthermore, when charges are in excess of what the family had planned and exceed what their budget can support, the charges can not be paid. This results in a loss of telephone contact with the inmate until past due charges can be settled.
Thus, there is a need to provide discounted rates for inmate telephone calls, which would promote regular contact with family members and, in turn, impact inmate conduct during incarceration. There is presently no known system or method that ties telephone contact with motivation by family members to encourage or promote good behavior on the part of inmates.
The present invention is a system and method of affecting inmate behavior within a correctional facility through providing discount telephone calling rates to inmates who qualify for the discounted rates based on predetermined criteria, such as inmate good behavior. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of providing an identification for each inmate, establishing qualifying criteria for a discount telephone rate, and reducing the telephone call charge rate for inmates that meet the qualifying criteria.
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, an inmate is identified by a Customer Identification Verification (CIV), such as a Personal Identification Number (PIN), a number associated with a calling card, such as a prepaid calling card, or some other data used for identification purposes. Predetermined qualifying criteria for the reduced rate is established by the institution or correctional facility. Data based on the predetermined qualifying criteria and actual measurements of the inmate""s behavior is stored in a database either associated with a telephone system of the facility or independently managed by a remote site provider or service bureau. When the actual measurements meet or exceed the predetermined qualifying criteria for a given period of time, the inmate""s PIN number becomes associated with a discounted calling rate within the telephone system. Alternatively, specific destination telephone numbers provided by the inmate can be associated with the discounted rate, thereby eliminating the need to associate the rate with the PIN number. The calling rate remains at a given standard rate for inmates that do not meet or exceed the predetermined qualifying criteria for the given period of time. Thus, the PIN number for these inmates is associated with the standard calling rate within the telephone system. If the behavior measurement data changes for an inmate such that they no longer qualify for the discounted rate, the rate associated with the inmate""s PIN number changes to the standard rate and the inmate must xe2x80x9cre-qualifyxe2x80x9d for the discounted rate.